Software as a Service
EASE AND
ANTICIPATION
ATTRACT SAAS
SUBSCRIBERS
Software as a Service
Landing pages help SaaS brands turn curiosity into software sign-ups. They drive visitors to demos or pricing pages by showing the product in its best light. And they can generate longer-term interest (and leads) by offering freebies, webinars, or other branded content in exchange for a little contact info. (67.8% of SaaS pages contain a form of some kind.)
- While the median conversion rate for this industry is 2.9%, the best-performing SaaS pages convert at 24.2% (based on the top 25th percentile).
- 10% of the landing pages we analyzed promote SaaS products. The pages we analyzed for SaaS account for 4,133,814 conversions.
- Below, we’ve broken SaaS down into 7 subcategories so you can get a clearer picture of where your business lands.
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Software as a Service
For SaaS landing pages,
shorter is sweeter.
What’s this mean? Our analysis shows that conversion rates trend up as a SaaS landing page becomes easier to read and down as you use more words. Want to know how we got these numbers? See our methodology.
Software as a Service
Keep your copy simple, even when your product isn’t.
Here’s a mystery for you. With a median conversion rate of 5%, landing pages built to advertise apps perform better than the general software baseline—72% better. That’s nothing to sniff at. But why?
Software as a Service
We suspect reading ease makes a difference.
SaaS landing pages have the most challenging copy of all the industries in this report, with one crucial exception: marketers use everyday language when they write about apps for mobile devices. This makes sense: promoting apps using customers’ own words lets SaaS marketers avoid jargon, engage casually, and score downloads. A simpler product can also lead to simpler copy.
But even if you’re targeting folks working in data analytics or infrastructure—which were most complex and lowest converting—it’s worth keeping your landing page text simple. Our research shows that conversion rates go up as SaaS landing pages become less painful to read. A sesquipedalian lexicon, alongside periphrastic syntax, indubitably discombobulates. So, umm, keep your copy clear and simple.
When you focus on benefits with plain and simple copy people end up converting because of how easy it is to understand what your product can do for them. Simple copy converts better and also tends to be much harder to write.
Co-Founder and CEO of FYI
Software as a Service
SaaS by the numbers
127%
Angrier on Cybersecurity Pages
Cybersecurity tends to use more words associated with anger (like insecure, illegal, or threat) than the SaaS baseline. Being real about the threat to personal security likely resonates with visitors because angrier cybersecurity pages appear to convert more often.
1.7X
Conversions from Click-through CTAs
Click-through pages perform best in SaaS. Consider creating a click-through landing page as a way to persuade your audience on the problem your software solves, before sending them to the sign-up funnel on your site. The CTA? "Pick a plan and start my trial."
15%
Wordier on Business Software Pages
Landing pages in the business software subcategory are 15% longer than the SaaS baseline. But marketers shouldn’t get carried away: business software pages convert best when around 400 words long.
Software as a Service
Need some inspiration for your SaaS pages?
Thinkific, a platform that helps people create and sell online courses, used 700+ landing pages to drive more than 150,000 conversions. From virtual summits to “back to school” promos, the team at Thinkific doesn’t miss a trick. The company is also—not coincidentally—on track to double in size.
See landing page examples from Thinkific here.Software as a Service
In SaaS, get your visitors excited by building anticipation.
Software as a Service
In SaaS, get your visitors excited by building anticipation.
Our research shows that getting emotional won’t necessarily woo potential SaaS subscribers. (Or, in science-speak, there’s minimal correlation between most sentiments and conversion rates in this industry.) Whatever your feelings about your offer, they aren’t always contagious.
One small exception, however, is anticipation. In our analysis, some SaaS landing pages see a tendency toward improved conversion rates whenever words associated with anticipation appear more frequently. We don’t recommend going overboard, but building a little excitement for your software with your copy could have an impact on campaign performance.
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Words that build anticipation for SaaS subscribers
Adding anticipation to your copy means more than just peppering it with words like these ones—tell compelling stories about how your SaaS software will solve customer problems, hype your value props, and get people excited about upcoming updates. Read more about this sentiment analysis in our methodology.
Software as a Service
Write in lively, easy-to-read language.
We should also note, saying that most emotions don’t impact your conversion rates is not the same as recommending you sound like Robby the SaaS Robot. An informal, conversational tone can make your copy a pleasure to read and create an overall experience of your brand that’s personable, memorable, and unique. All good things that ensure, whether or not a visitor converts in the moment, you’ll make a lasting impact.
Software as a Service
THREE BIG TAKEAWAYS FROM THE SAAS BENCHMARKS
- Reading ease and word count appear to impact SaaS conversion rates. Both how many words you use and the way you use them correlate with conversion rates. Whenever possible, keep your copy short and simple in SaaS.
- Most emotions likely don’t matter to your SaaS conversions. While it’s advice you might hear, we found there’s no firm evidence of a correlation between most emotions and your SaaS conversion rates. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t infuse copy with emotion. Write like a human!
- Create anticipation to get more subscribers. One emotion that sometimes relates to higher conversion rates in SaaS is anticipation, so you could try to use language and design that gets a visitor’s motor running.
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Want an easier way to optimize your SaaS copy?
We used the data from this report to create the Unbounce Copy Analyzer, a totally free tool that shows how you can quickly apply Conversion Benchmark insights to make your SaaS landing page more impactful.
Get a personalized report on your landing page copy.